According to Luke’s version of the crucifixion, Jesus converses with the men on either side of him while waiting to die and promises the man on a neighbouring cross “today you will be with me in paradise”. The other main metaphor for God’s dwelling place in the Bible is paradise. Even so, the concept of heaven (wherever it is located) continues in Christian theology as the place where God dwells and a theological claim that this world is not all that there is. Of course, we know the earth is not flat, and this three-tiered universe makes no sense to a modern mind. Shutterstockīiblical authors imagined the earth as a flat place with Sheol below (the realm of the dead) and a dome over the earth that separates it from the heavens or sky above. The Disputation of the Sacrament at the Vatican Museum (c1509) depicts heaven as a realm in the skies above earth. Heaven is a place of peace, love, community, and worship, where God is surrounded by a heavenly court and other heavenly beings. It is primarily God’s dwelling place in the biblical tradition: a parallel realm where everything operates according to God’s will. The first line of the Bible states that heaven is created along with the creation of the earth ( Genesis 1). It is not something that exists eternally but rather part of creation. The words for heaven or heavens in both Hebrew ( shamayim) and Greek ( ouranos) can also be translated as sky. Yet heaven and paradise were originally more about where God lived, not about us or our ultimate destination. In the Christian tradition, heaven and paradise have been conflated as an answer to the question “where do I go when I die?” The idea of the dead being in heaven or enjoying paradise often brings enormous comfort to the bereaved and hope to those suffering or dying. It is impossible to state categorically what the Bible as a whole says about heaven… Biblical beliefs about heaven are varied, complex and fluid. As New Testament scholar Paula Gooder writes: